A tricked-out, in-cabin entertainment system might make the New York–to-L.A. run seem shorter, but all that hardcore hardware is going to cost you in cargo space: Space better devoted to boxes of Scotch and golf clubs is quickly swallowed up by DVD and CD players, custom sound systems, monitors and even an Xbox or two.
Which makes the $249 iPod the natural fit for your $20 million plane. At the annual National Business Aviation Association convention last year, crowds blew past the latest Lockheed engines and glass-paneled navigation displays just to marvel at Bombardier’s unveiling of the standard iPod port on its new jets — and how it simplifies the airborne sights-and-sounds equation.
“Say you’re in Europe for two weeks and want to update your movies — before the flight, either you or your pilots can download music or audio,” says Eric Roth of International Jet Interiors, which has installed some half-dozen dual iPod players in planes over the past six months. “It offers tremendous flexibility.”
In the near future, new planes will come with an iPod dock — or two — wired into the cabin A/V system. Older systems have to be modified, although for a retrofit job there’s not much to it: a basic off-the-shelf dock ($39 at any Apple store) and a standard USB port for it to plug into. All told, including rewiring (sometimes involving an extra inverter or converter to spread the load of the 110-volt power source), it starts around $3,500, or roughly the cost of running a G200 for an hour.
Roth offers a few other pointers: As a backup, he recommends owners keep at least one DVD player plugged into the cabin system. After all, the Apple online store may be great if you want to entertain the kids with a lisping Johnny Depp, but good luck finding a downloadable copy of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. And don’t forget to have an extra port set installed in the cabin CEO chair. That way you can subject the whole plane to a flight’s worth of Johnny Cash without ever leaving your seat. Talk about a power trip.
